{"id":23242,"date":"2014-08-22T23:00:32","date_gmt":"2014-08-22T15:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=23242"},"modified":"2014-08-22T17:23:13","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T09:23:13","slug":"back-after-cancer-diagnosis-showtime-star-michael-cooper-leads-dream-into-wnba-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/08\/22\/back-after-cancer-diagnosis-showtime-star-michael-cooper-leads-dream-into-wnba-playoffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Back after cancer diagnosis, \u2018Showtime\u2019 star Michael Cooper leads Dream into WNBA playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Michael<\/a>
Michael Cooper. Photo from lakerholicz.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ATLANTA\u2014Michael Cooper remembers the day well. The sun was shining bright, yet the notorious Atlanta heat wasn\u2019t too stifling. The sky was a brilliant blue, speckled with only a few puffy white clouds.<\/p>\n

As he looked out the eighth-floor hospital window, all seemed right with the world. His job was going well. His wife and young son were good.<\/p>\n

Then, the doctor delivered one word that changed everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018OK, how long do I have to live?\u201d\u2018 Cooper recalled. \u201cThat\u2019s the first thing that came into my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

The defensive stopper for the Los Angeles Laker during their glorious \u201cShowtime\u201d era of the 1980s was facing an opponent unlike any other.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis lets you know that life is fragile, and it can be taken away from you at any moment,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cHere I was, just going along, having a great time down here in Atlanta with a team that I know can win a championship, and the next thing you know, they tell me … \u2018You have cancer.\u2019 Now, tongue cancer isn\u2019t as bad some cancers. But cancer is cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooper is in his first season as coach of the Dream, a team that finished first in the Eastern Conference after reaching the WNBA finals three of the last four years.<\/p>\n

The Dream were dominating the East with a 15-6 record when Cooper went in to have a small spot on his tongue checked out. It seemed like a cut, but just wouldn\u2019t heal. It had become quite annoying, making it difficult for the 58-year-old to chew, drink or swallow.<\/p>\n

The specialist knew right away it was cancer. Cooper underwent surgery six days later to have the lesion removed from his tongue. Also, his lymph nodes were taken out, reducing the risk of the disease spreading but leaving a gnarly scar down the left side of his neck.<\/p>\n

The very day of his surgery, Cooper\u2019s 83-year-old father, Marshall, was buried. He had been in failing health, and the two were able to visit a few weeks before he died.<\/p>\n

\u201cI flew to LA on a weekend when we had some days off,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cI told him I loved him, said all the things I wanted to say. We laughed and talked. I told him, \u2018Pops, if you\u2019re hanging around for me, don\u2019t hang. I\u2019m OK.\u2019 That was the last time I saw him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of grieving, Cooper actually took a bit of comfort from his father\u2019s death as he was wheeled into the operating room.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I had another angel up there looking out for me,\u201d he said. \u201cI knew things were going to be all right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cancer was caught in its early stages, according to Cooper, and the chances of a full recovery are good. He\u2019ll need to undergo about six weeks of radiation after the season, but hopes the worst of his ordeal is over.<\/p>\n

He missed only six games, but the Dream took a definite turn for the worse while he was out., losing nine of 11.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime you\u2019re on a team, you want consistency, you want familiarity,\u201d said DeLisha Milton-Jones, a 15-year veteran. \u201cWhen you\u2019re thrown a blow like that from the head coaching position, I mean, he\u2019s your first leader. When you don\u2019t have him there, of course the team may stumble a little bit. And we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, there\u2019s chance to make it right.<\/p>\n

A best-of-three series against the Chicago Sky begins Friday night. Atlanta is led by top scorer Angel McCoughtry and rookie star Shoni Schimmel. The Dream (19-15) are the favoured in the East, but no one outside their locker room really believes they can knock off the Western Conference champion Phoenix Mercury (29-5) or the Minnesota Lynx (25-9)\u2014should they get that far.<\/p>\n

They believe they have a chance with Cooper, who is still adjusting since returning to the bench.<\/p>\n

He tires more easily than he did before, and he\u2019s been told not to raise his voice while his tongue recovers. He talks just fine, other than swishing saliva around his mouth more frequently, but relays instructions during the games through assistant coach Karlene Thompson.<\/p>\n

But this is where he wants to be, where he needs to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been great to be around the team,\u201d Cooper said after a recent practice at Philips Arena. \u201cWith my wife and son back in Los Angeles, the team has been like a comforting thing for me. It\u2019s like family coming here. That\u2019s why it was important to come back as fast as I was able to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

His eye darted around the court. One player was getting in some extra free throws. Another was shooting from 3-point range.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what love,\u201d Cooper said, smiling like a man whose life is back in order. \u201cBeing in a basketball gym. The smell of hoops.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cancer couldn\u2019t take that away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA\u2014Michael Cooper remembers the day well. The sun was shining bright, yet the notorious Atlanta heat wasn\u2019t too stifling. The …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":23243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","mauthors-paul-newberry","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}